Romans 5:20 "But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more…"
The word trophy means "a monument customarily erected to commemorate an enemy's defeat." I sense a year of "unprecedented harvest" is on the threshold of stepping into God's Kingdom. Many are just one breath away from calling upon the name of the Lord. I am not talking about just some nice people deciding to give their hearts to the Lord. I am sensing great sinners like terrorists, pornographers, mass murderers and satanists giving their hearts wholeheartedly to the Lord. I sense the Father saying, "I am going to save great sinners whom My people have given up hope for--just so I can receive great glory and display My greater grace in this hour!" Being a notorious terrorist in his day, Saul went on to become the great Apostle Paul of his day and of ours.
God Says, "People Who Aren't Even Looking for Me Shall Find Me!"
Romans 10:20 in The Message Bible says, "People found and welcomed Me who never so much as looked for Me. And I found and welcomed people who had never even asked about Me."
I used to hunt deer and other game. I would arise early and stay out all day until dusk, hoping to find that trophy of a deer or animal. Diligently did I track a deer and wanted to find him before he discovered I was after him. I would climb up trees so deer couldn't smell me and to receive a good aim and bring him in.
I sense the Lord saying, "The way you have been seeking for big game trophies in the natural is too similar to how you have been trying to seek and bring the lost into My Kingdom. It isn't working. You are so used to doing it in the same way you hunt for animals. You have been up in your 'holy' tree looking down on them, aiming with a religious shot of Scripture to shoot at them and bring them in. Listen, they are 'spiritually' gun shy! Because you are not aiming for their hearts, you have only wounded many with the letter of My word, and they are now terrified of Me."
God Says, "How Many Great Sinners Have you Befriended Lately?"
Have you ever been to a game park where deer are so used to people being around them that they just come around you? The Lord asked me a few questions recently and said, "Bill, how many friends do you have who are sinners and don't know Me because they don't know you? They don't know that you even like them, let alone--love them. They think you are just after them like hunting game to drag them into your church so you can add a number to your church membership! How many great sinners have you befriended lately? How many sinners can call you their friend? Not that you are a friend to their sin--but a friend to them."
Luke 15:2 in The Message Bible says, "He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends." Jesus, what a friend to sinners!
I Am a Great Sinner...Jesus is a Great Savior!
It's amazing to hear the words of that great Apostle Paul near the end of his ministry and life in 1 Timothy 1:15, "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief!" He didn't say He was chief of sinners. He said, "I am chief." He knew how much he still fell short of God's glory.
Have you noticed the closer you are to Jesus, the greater your sin and shortcomings become exceedingly blatant? Maybe this is why the Lord is showing us our own shortcomings and sinfulness so we can relate to the lost and have mercy on them. I love the words spoken by the writer of that great song, Amazing Grace How Sweet the Sound and what he wanted to express. He was portraying through the song, "I am a great sinner…Jesus is a great Savior!"
God Says, "Don't Write Off Any Who Are Lost! My Gifts and Callings Are Now Being Activated in Them!"
Years ago, my mother called to tell me that my half-brother Clifford had just been saved. I said to her, "You mean Clifford?" To be honest, I had given up on Clifford a few years ago and had forgotten to pray for him. Clifford lived in bars, and he had so many wives we couldn't figure out who he was married to. Upon hearing that Clifford got saved, it was hard for me to believe it. Did God actually save Clifford without me praying for him? I waited a couple of weeks and called my mother to see how Clifford was doing. I just couldn't believe he was saved. At the end of the conversation, I asked my mother, "How is Clifford doing?" Mom said, "Oh Bill, Clifford is on fire! He just witnessed to his first wife! We don't know how God is going to 'unscramble' scrambled eggs!"
This year, I am sensing we will see many who we have given up hope for come in first and blow our minds away! God showed me that I didn't have to keep praying over and over for lost loved ones until I was in spiritual depression over them! Listen, start thanking God that your lost loved ones are coming in! God has heard your cries. I sense many need to stop praying and start "thanking God." Don't even mention what the lost ones are doing wrong. Don't call them a drug addict, a prostitute or an alcoholic. Call them "a chosen generation, a royal priesthood!" Call those things that are not as though they were!
I challenge you to go a step further and treat them as though they are already saved! Accept them as sinners the way God accepted you. Just love on them and be a friend to them. Remember you couldn't save yourself, only God could. Don't carry that false responsibility any longer of thinking that you have to save someone. Let God, Who saved you--save them!
Not long ago I was troubled by someone close to me who wasn't living right. They knew the Lord, but I believed they were sinning in a certain area. I called them up and scheduled to talk with them the next day. I had both barrels loaded with Scripture to show how their way of living was wrong and felt it would be a divine confrontation. That night as I was going to sleep, the Lord spoke to me and said, "Tomorrow when you talk to that person, I don't want you to say anything negative against them or even mention to them about what you sense they are doing! I just want you to remind them of the great calling on their life and the great plans that I have for them."
God stripped me of my ammunition. As I sat down with that person the next day, I only spoke what God had said to me. As I shared with this person, reminding them of the great calling of God on their life and encouraging them in it, I saw their countenance change and their spirit rising. First of all, I think they were so relieved from the fear that I was going to attack their sinful lifestyle. Then they were shocked with the awesome truth of God's plans for them that were good and were still on schedule. He wasn't focused on their sin--but on His grace!
I am learning that when we speak to the spirit of a person, their spirit rises. And when we speak to their flesh, their flesh rises, causing a thick wall between us and them. I believe this is what Paul meant when he said in 2 Corinthians 5:16, "Wherefore henceforth we know no man after the flesh…" I believe Paul was choosing to only see people in the spirit as God sees them. That's why there is always hope for anyone. In John 8:15 Jesus says, "You judge after the flesh; I judge no man."
Many Huge Trophies Hanging on the Walls in the Enemy's Camp will be Returned this Year!
In Jesus' Name, great strongholds, chains and bondages will be broken this year--over both the lost and God's people who have been held captive and have become trophies in the enemy's camp! I see the giant of pornography, lust, drug addiction and alcoholism weakening and losing its hold on many. Watch for a "take back" year and for God to begin restoring the years the locust, cankerworm and palmerworm have eaten.
I don't know how you may be seeing yourself today, but I know I am a great "trophy" in God's Kingdom! How about you? Hallelujah, what a Savior!
Bill Yount
Blowing the Shofar Ministries
Email: theshofarhasblown@juno.com
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